AFP
Rescue workers have on Thursday pulled three dozen bodies from the water after an overcrowded riverboat that capsized in Ingaski Local Government Area of Kebbi state on Wednesday.
Survivors and officials said only 20 people were rescued on Wednesday when the wooden boat ferrying passengers to a market broke apart and sank between Niger state and Wara in Kebbi state.
Read Also: Kebbi Boat Mishap: National Inland Waterways Declares 4 Dead, 156 Missing
Abubakar Shehu, a local official supervising the rescue operation told AFP;
Five bodies were recovered yesterday and 31 bodies today, and the recovery operation is ongoing. More bodies are expected to be found. The bodies are bloated and now coming to the surface which makes it easy to spot them.
Riverboat tragedies have become commonplace in Nigeria, mostly due to overcrowding, weather and lack of maintenance, but Wednesday’s toll is one of the deadliest yet in recent years.
Reacting to the recent incident, President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday called the mishap “devastating” after the inland waterways authority had said only 20 people had been rescued and another 156 were still missing.
Read Also: Buhari Mourns Victims Of Kebbi Boat Mishap
The statement partly reads;
While efforts are ongoing to recover more survivors, the President extends his gratitude to all those involved in the rescue efforts and wishes those injured from the accident quick recovery.
“When the boat broke into two, I wondered if people were sinking into the water,” survivor Usman Umar said, standing by the riverbank in Ngaski area in Kebbi.
He stated;
The boat capacity was something up to 150 people, us survivors can’t be even 20.
Meanwhile, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) local manager, Yusuf Birma told reporters on Wednesday the boat was overcrowded with around 180 people and went down an hour into its journey.
On his part, Local district administrator, Abdullahi Buhari Wara said the boat was also loaded with bags of sand from a gold mine.
NIWA has also banned night-time sailing on the rivers to stop accidents and says overloading ships is a criminal offense, but skippers and crews often ignore the regulations.
Early in May, 30 people drowned when an overloaded boat capsized in Niger state.
The boat carrying 100 local traders also split into two after hitting a trunk during a storm as they were returning from a local market.
Via AFP.
